Good News in Hard Times

Paul and 275 other people on a ship had been caught in a terrible storm in the Adriatic Sea for 2 weeks. They had eaten very little and had very little rest. He was not an ordinary passenger, but a prisoner on his way to defend himself before Caesar in Rome. After being shipwrecked on Malta, they were huddled around a fire in the cold and rain and (to add insult to injury) a viper was driven out of the fire and bit Paul on the hand. Paul was likely exhausted, hungry, and in pain, he probably looked like a mess, and as a prisoner his positional authority was less than zero. But in his weakness God still used him to reach many people on this journey recorded in Acts 27-28.

The people on board who were tired and hungry were encouraged when he thanked God and broke bread with them, and the centurion and soldiers guarding him on the ship were following his instructions shortly before they were shipwrecked. When he didn’t suffer any ill effects from the viper’s bite, the locals thought he was a god, and after God healed multiple people through Paul’s prayers it says they honoured them in many ways.

For Paul, it was normal for the good news of Jesus to reach people through him when he wasn’t strong. He said to the church in Galatia, ‘As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you…’ (Galatians 4:13) and he said to the church in Corinth, ‘I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power’ (1 Corinthians 2:3-5).

Do you resist sharing the good news of Jesus because you don’t feel strong enough? Are you afraid that you don’t know enough about the Bible, or how to defend Christiantiy? Do you feel physically weak from ongoing health issues? Do you feel mentally and emotionally weak after 14 months of COVID restrictions, or from other challenges in your life? Paul was extremely intelligent and capable, but if God kept putting him in situations when he had to share the good news of Jesus in weakness, it is likely that his ‘strength’ was getting in God’s way. We may want to wait until we feel stronger before we share the good news of Jesus with others, but how is God putting us into situations to share Jesus when we feel weak so we can get out of the way for God to work in us through his Spirit?

This reflection introduces the teaching on Sunday 6th June about sharing the good news of Jesus. You can listen to it below.